


Masks and Cotton Candy

by vinoguris



Category: Blue Lock (Manga)
Genre: Boys Being Boys, Fair, Fluff, M/M, OOC, enjoy idk?!?, lil dorks, lowkey slow burn, zantetsu has a lil sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26217130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vinoguris/pseuds/vinoguris
Summary: “Do you...” Reo’s voice echoed off the town’s buildings’ walls, and he shivered. “Do you, by any chance, know why is it so quiet, Nagi?” He never expected an answer.“Fair.”
Relationships: Mikage Reo & Seishirou Nagi, Mikage Reo/Seishirou Nagi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Masks and Cotton Candy

**Author's Note:**

> * cicada wing - a color similar to teal. i wasn't able to find exact pictures but it's supposed to be teal-ish pink-ish.  
> ** in kimono fashion, there are colors assigned to each month! it's august, so the colors are cicada wing and sky-blue!  
> *** Oni, kitsune, hannya are all demons from Japanese mythology. Tengu is a deity. Hyottoko is a comical children's character.
> 
> \--- 
> 
> enjoy!! go yell at me on @kuonsgfs or praise me right there too :>

Reo loved summers. He felt the warm wind caress his face and smiled as he and Nagi just walked on the deserted streets of their hometown, unbothered by any other people. Honestly, Reo was surprised by the lonely quietness that covered the streets like fog... it was Sunday, after all, it was supposed to be the hour when most people were out and about.

Such sort of pressuring silence intimidated Reo a lot, and Nagi wasn’t typically the one to fill the void, so the other had to help himself, and he would start acting... very weird. He’d ask questions then answer them himself immediately, start quoting poems that came to mind, even sing or make up soccer strategies on the go. Nagi’s patience was truly inhuman.

“Do you...” Reo’s voice echoed off the town’s buildings’ walls, and he shivered. “Do you, by any chance, know why is it so quiet, Nagi?” He never expected an answer. 

“Fair.”

“F… Fair?”

“Yeah, fair.” and Nagi waved a colorful piece of paper in front of Reo’s face. “I thought we were going there.” 

Reo felt ultimately stupid. He quickly grabbed the flyer Nagi was holding and examined it thoroughly. That’s right, a fair came into town just a few days ago… was he that busy with his studies and father’s constant “you’re the heir to the corporation, blah blah” instructions to not notice how the city changed on the eve of the fair coming around? 

“I think you’re just drained with your constant studying so you didn’t see it,” Nagi noticed as he tapped Reo’s back. Reo nodded and smiled sourly. 

“Yeah, I think so.”

However it was, they were totally heading there now. Nagi raised his eyebrows. 

“Let’s race.” They said in unison. Reo giggled. Of course, the winner was decided long before the race started, but he smirked anyway. The boys nodded to each other and prepared. 

One, two…

And they ran. The flock of pigeons fluttered with scared humming as they ran right into it, and even Nagi smiled lightly when a wave of wind tousled their hair a little, Reo laughed loudly and tucked his disheveled locks behind his ear on the go. 

They crossed the driveway quickly (thankfully, not a lot of cars were around), tried to avoid the cracks in the concrete (Reo lost first, but it didn’t disappoint him at all), scared an elderly lady (Nagi came back to apologize) and made a child laugh (Reo started laughing too). 

They ran and ran until music and loud chatter could be heard. Reo lifted his gaze and saw giant kites shaped like real dragons floating in the sky. He gasped quietly and shifted his attention to Nagi, looking up too, not showing a particular emotion. 

“I haven’t seen anything like that since I was, I think, ten.” Reo breathed out. Nagi watched him in surprise. 

“I haven’t ever been to a fair.” 

Reo choked on thin air. “You haven’t?.. Oh, well then I,” he wrapped Nagi’s neck with his arm, “am honored to accompany you on your first time!” And he smiled widely. 

After standing outside awkwardly for a bit, admiring the grandiosity of the fair, they finally took a deep breath and walked in the fair gates. 

It smelled like… food. Lots of different kinds of foods. Donuts, hot dogs, corn, cake… Reo felt his stomach start complaining, and for the first time in his life he was relieved that he had money on him. 

Nagi chose a giant portion of cotton candy, and it looked like a pink cloud, covering his entire face. Reo limited himself with two donuts. The lady at the sweets truck smiled in surprise and happily winked at the boy as he received Nagi’s choice. 

Reo hasn’t seen so many people in one place in quite a while, but… with the chatter and the smells and the colorfulness of the fair, he suddenly felt at home. He blinked twice and looked at Nagi, walking beside him, who was just halfway through with his cotton candy, and the corners of his mouth were pinkish with it, and, probably, very sweet… but Reo wouldn’t want to check for himself. Or would he?

“But Tsurugi!” a girl’s voice called out. Reo flinched. Tsurugi?..  
“Hey, you know you can’t have any candy.” Tsurugi! Yes, that was totally him. Zantetsu Tsurugi, Reo recognized his voice and the spiky black hair sticking out in the crowd. 

He was going to turn to Nagi and ask if he wanted to greet Zantetsu, but—

“Hey, silly Zantetsu.” Nagi looked down at the other, holding his cotton candy a bit further from his face with a curious look. How’d he get there so quickly? Reo sighed and ran to the two. 

“Hey, Nagi… oh, Reo’s here too.” Zantetsu frowned, and Reo noticed a little girl clinging to Tsurugi’s leg, looking up at the strangers with light disgust and confusement. 

Reo nodded to her and smiled. “And this little one, who’s she?” The child only hid further, but looked out immediately. 

Tsurugi looked down on her and messed her hair up. “That’s… that’s my sister.” Zantetsu had a sister? 

“Woah, Zantetsu, you never told us you had siblings!”

“Not like I told you much about myself.” That was true, too. Zantetsu kneeled to his sister. “Izumi, meet Reo and Nagi.”

Izumi stepped out and Reo suddenly noticed how similar the siblings were. The same color of eyes, the spiky black hair that was attempted to be styled, but not exactly successfully. Reo looked up at Nagi. He was… sort of smiling? It was totally not the deadly vibe he’d radiate when he wasn’t happy with something. Reo giggled. He had no idea Nagi was cool with kids! Nagi squatted before Izumi. 

“Do you want some of my cotton candy?” Izumi smiled happily and nodded, reaching for Nagi’s hand. 

Zantetsu flinched and grabbed the sweets right out of his sister’s hand before she could take a bite. “Hey! What are you doing?”

“Is there something wrong with giving a child candy?” Nagi stood up. Tsurugi frowned. 

“Not when the child is… a little sick.” 

Reo understood immediately and dragged his friend off by his sleeve quickly. “Zantetsu, do you and Izumi maybe want to hang out together with us a bit?”

Zantetsu chuckled. “I don’t really want to fifth-wheel around the two of you. And drag Izumi with myself on that.”

“I think you meant ‘third-wheel’!” Third-wheel? That sounded as if Zantetsu thought the two were a couple. 

“Maybe. I still don’t want to. Have fun though.” Zantetsu picked his sister up and got lost in the crowd. 

Nagi frowned. “Why’d you invite him with us?”

“Something wrong with it?”

“Not really, I just… thought it’d be just the two of us. Kind of hoped, even.”

Nagi… wanted to spend time alone with Reo? The purple-haired boy gasped quietly in surprise and laughed. “Hey, you should’ve told me from the very start! Of course let’s hang out, just the two of us!” Reo hoped he didn’t blush from the realization of how Nagi needed him. Nagi didn’t show anything, though, so he hoped it was alright. Okay. 

And the two boys dived into the motley crowd. 

They were going next to an apple tree when Nagi slowed down. “Hey, Reo, look.” He poked Reo’s shoulder lightly. “Fortune cookies. Smells nice.”

Reo turned his head. Yeah, fortune cookies… and it really did smell great. “Do you want any?”

Nagi nodded. “Only one, though. I want the prophecy too.”

Reo ran off to the table. Surprisingly, no one was there. “Hello?” He looked around. Still no one… suddenly, he noticed a little note pinned to the box of cookies. 

“A cookie is 50 yen. Take as many as you need and leave the money on the table.”

Seriously? Who does that? Won’t people steal? As someone who grew up in the corrupt air of business, Reo knew how broken humans were. He only shrugged, though, took two biscuits and left a hundred yen on the table. Did anyone do the same, he wondered. 

He walked back to where he and Nagi parted, but… where’s Nagi? Reo looked around. No sign of Nagi. Did Reo himself get to the wrong spot? No… the apple tree was still there. Nagi walked away. Reo sighed and called out into the crowd. 

“Na-a-a-agi!!!” No answer. Shit. Was it all just a trick? Reo frowned. 

“Reo-o-o-o!!!” He suddenly heard a familiar voice and turned quickly. Nagi stood on a chair on the other side of the street, waving to Reo. The boy gasped in relief and rushed to his friend. 

“Nagi, where have you—” He started, but cut off as soon as he took a closer look. Nagi pulled the sleeve of his… 

Oh god. Nagi was wearing a cicada wing* yukata with a silky floral pattern on it. The color really suited the boy, seeming surreal how he was one with it, and Reo felt his entire face heat up. “You look… you look great!” he breathed out. 

“...thanks. I think you should get one too.” Nagi pointed at the little shop, dazzling with colorful fabrics. Reo nodded and stepped in. 

“Oh, hello there,” the shopkeeper smiled as he saw a new visitor. “I saw you chat with that boy outside. You want something too?” 

Mikage chose a sky blue color, to match Nagi’s month**. The other nodded with approval and they walked back into the flood of people. 

It was still loud, but the crowd was less excited than in the day, and just flowed on its own sleepily. There was a great funnel cake, and they shared a big slice. Reo stared at his share for a while, thinking about the day, lifting his gaze at his friend from time to time. Nagi looked magnificent in his yukata, his teal eyes lurking around the surroundings like a child’s, almost sparkling with joy. Sometimes he would look at Reo and try to show his happiness as much as he could. He wasn’t someone to be loud or clingy, and that was something Reo valued. He liked how his own energy was… absorbed by Nagi. He felt calm around him. But now, for a strange reason, he couldn’t calm down. Reo picked on his cake. Something about the scenery wasn’t as usual, he felt something different. He tried to understand himself, analyze his feelings like he was taught to, but… he couldn’t. And he suddenly didn’t want to. He enjoyed the strange weight in his stomach that became heavier every time he looked up, even though it was new. Observing Nagi was a pastime too, after all.

“Hey!” Nagi stood up suddenly and looked past Reo, glowing with curiosity. “Masks!”

Masks? Reo turned over his shoulder to see what caught his friend’s attention. That’s right… that’s weird. He didn’t see that shop when they came here before. But he did see traditional masks. Onis, kitsunes, Hannya, Tengu… even Hyottoko masks were there***. Nagi bounced on his knees a little, and Reo sighed. What was ever bad about masks? 

So they left the table (Reo insisted they stayed to pay for cake at first, of course). Nagi got to the showcases first and pointed at an oni mask calmly. “I kind of feel… this one feels like me.” Reo took a glance at it. It… surprisingly did feel like Nagi. The demon that Nagi turned into on the field looked at Reo right now with the eyes of the mask. 

“You want it?” Nagi nodded slightly. 

“And that one feels like you. You should get it, too.” He pointed at the kitsune mask laying on the upper shelf. Reo reached to take it. A normal kitsune mask, one someone would wear at the Shinto festival. It looked calm and concentrated, and Reo couldn’t say he didn’t like it. 

So they took both. Reo pushed his mask to the side so he could see properly, and so did Nagi. The sun was slowly setting, so the two boys decided they would just spend the time they have left walking around. Maybe there’s something they’ve missed. 

And there was. 

Reo turned away for one second to turn back and see Nagi staring at that giant plush toy that was both a dog, a bear and a bunny, a weird hybrid he couldn’t make out. It had to be won, apparently. Pop the balloons or something. 

“Reo, can you get that for me?”

“Why me? You’re way better than…”

“I… want something more to remember today.” Nagi cut him off. And Reo understood. 

“Pop all, but don’t miss a single time,” the sign said. Reo sighed and took the first dart. 

First out of a million. 

There were around twenty balloons, popping them all seemed, well, quite simple. Until he missed the fourth. 

Oh, well. Reo’s aim was never that good. 

And so he tried again. And failed at sixth. Well, that’s progress, at least. 

The next time he missed the first. 

Oh. 

He went to ten on his next try and failed miserably on three. He truly felt this was a bad idea, but if it was Nagi’s first time at a fair like this, Reo wanted to do his everything to make it the best day of their lives. 

And so far it was. 

So he tried, and tried, and tried. He let out a yelp once the nineteenth dart missed the target, but still bought twenty more. Sun crawled to hide behind the horizon as the twentieth balloon finally popped. 

Reo laughed a lot. And they finally, finally walked away from the dreadful game. They watched the streets and squares light up as the sky colored black and stars appeared to replace the sun for yhe night. Nagi held the dog-bunny-bear thing close to his chest as if it meant something to him. That was… kind of cute. Maybe. A little. Very, Reo’s brain prompted. Not at all, Reo refused the thought. 

“I heard there were going to be fireworks on the pond around nine…” Nagi started. Reo looked at the watch on his wrist (this thing turned out useful!). Shit. Five minutes left. 

Before he acknowledged that, Reo grabbed Nagi’s hand, and they ran. They ran, probably faster than they ran to get to the fair in the first place. And now it wasn’t a competition. 

Phew, the first petard whistled the second the boys stepped on the pond bay, toe to toe. Phew, they sighed in unison, watching the night sky light up with thousands of bright, human-made stars. 

Reo lifted his head up, closing his eyes. So calm… maybe it was the best day of his life. It couldn’t get better, probably. 

And then he felt something soft touch his lips.


End file.
